What We Know about the Mississippi State SEC Network Takeover
By Will Larsen
Mississippi State set to feature multiple prominent events during the SEC Network Takeover
The SEC Network Takeover has become an annual event for every SEC school to pick 24 hours worth of programming. This year it has started with Georgia on July 23rd and will end with Florida on August 5th. Mississippi State precedes Florida on August 4th. There still has not been an official announcement by Mississippi State about what programming they will choose. However thanks to a SEC Network TV Schedule, we mostly know what Mississippi State will plan to show:
11 PM CT- Men’s Basketball 2018 Mississippi State @ Baylor- Following a 1st round NIT win over Nebraska, Mississippi State faces off against Baylor in the most unforgettable game of the 2018 season. Baylor would take a seemingly unbreakable lead before Mississippi State makes one of the most remarkable comebacks to finally be on the right side of the buzzer beater in the postseason.
1 AM CT- Women’s Soccer 2017 Missouri @ Misssissippi State- MaKayla Waldner scored two goals and Brooke McKee added another goal to give Mississippi State a big 3-1 victory in Coach Tom Anagnost’s first SEC win at Mississippi State. Mississippi State would go on to have one of their better seasons in recent years, and they will look to build upon that in the upcoming 2018 season.
2:30 AM- Documentary “One Night in March”- A description from the official website:
"“By virtue of their SEC titles in ’59, ’61 and ’62, Mississippi State University received invitations to play in the NCAA tournament each year for the men’s collegiate basketball championship. Each time, the invitation was declined. Until March, 1963. What followed was a story of courage, political intrigue and danger in the depths of the Jim Crow south. This is the story of the 1963 Mississippi State University basketball team and their historic game of change against Loyola (IL).”"
3:30 AM- Men’s Tennis 2018 SEC Tournament Championship-The best Men’s College Tennis game you will ever watch, filled with tiebreakers, racquet throwing, and serving errors, this match has everything setup for a memorable championship run for Mississippi State. And the best part? This team returns in its entirety next season. Just add Men’s Tennis to the ever so growing list of great Mississippi State sports teams in 2018-2019.
5 am- Women’s Basketball 2017 Mississippi State vs Connecticut Final Four- Morgan William! Dak! Buzzer Beater! Enough said. Start off your morning to watch Mississippi State take down the dynasty of 111 straight wins and 4 straight national championships once again. Because let’s be real. It never gets old.
7 am- Softball 2015 Mississippi State @ Ole Miss- Ole Miss leads the game 6-1 after 6 innings. There is 0 chance Ole Miss blows this lead right? Ha wrong. Catch an unbelievable Mississippi State 7th inning in which Mississippi State scores 7 runs in one inning to defeat Ole Miss 8-6 in Oxford.
9 am- Football 2017 Gator Bowl- One of the best bowl games of the 2017 football season features 2016 Heisman Winner Lamar Jackson vs first time freshman starting quarterback Keytaon Thompson. Mississippi State absouloutely dominated both lines of scrimmages, and this ultimatley made the difference in this 31-28 thriller.
11:30 am- Men’s Basketball Mississippi State vs Kentucky- This will certainly be an older game, but the question now is which game will it be? My vote would be to play the 1996 SEC Tournament Championship game, but there are certainly some games in the 2000’s that could be played here instead.
1:30 pm- Baseball 2018 Ole Miss vs Mississippi State- Will this be Luke Alexander’s walkoff at Dudy Noble or his walkoff at Trustmark Park? Why not both? In fact, why not just have a video montage of every single walkoff win vs Ole Miss. I like this idea a lot.
3:30 pm – Football Alabama @ Mississippi State- I admit this one is a curveball that I did not expect. Mississippi State has not defeated Alabama in 11 years so you have to go back over a decade to find a Mississippi State win. I seriously doubt this is 1980 Alabama @ Mississippi State, but it would be awesome for Mississippi State to sync up Jack Cristil’s radio broadcast with that game. Realistically our only options are 1996, 1998, 2000, and 2007. I would bet it would be either 1996 or 2007 and I would assume it would be 1996. Any of these games would be a gem to watch on a replay. Beating Alabama is must watch TV.
6 pm- “Hail State Highlights and Features”- The title gives the description to this one.
7 pm- Women’s Basketball 2018 South Carolina @ Mississippi State- A record breaking crowd gives the Humphrey Coliseum the best atmosphere in this decade for Men or Women’s Basketball. Mississippi State uses a strong 4th quarter performance in which they outscore South Carolina 28-9 to win 67-53 in the Southeastern Conference’s best Women’s Basketball rivalry. Mississippi State would go on to win the Southeastern Conference and reach their 2nd straight National Championship game.
9 pm- Baseball 2018 Super Regional Game 3 Mississippi State @ Vanderbilt- relive the excitement of Mississippi State’s extra inning win over the Commodores that sent Mississippi State to the College World Series.
And that about does it for Mississippi State’s 2018 SEC Network Takeover. My general thoughts are that replaying classic games against the SEC’s best in Football and Men’s Basketball is a good move. My biggest appointment’s is that not even one Florida football game will make it. 2000 Florida @ Mississippi State seemed like the easy choice but of course 2004 was certainly a good one as well. I would have probably played one of those games over one of the baseball games but all in all a decent lineup for the SEC Network Takeover. Get your DVRs ready, and I will be sure to tweet about the event as well.